Margaret Matthew Gifford
NEWBURY TWP. – Margaret “Peg” Matthew Gifford, 95, of Newbury Township, passed away on Jan. 13, 2016, after a short illness.
She was born Oct. 26, 1920, in Columbus, Ohio, where she graduated from Columbus North High School in 1938.
Peg attended The Ohio State University and graduated with a degree in home economics in 1942. While attending Ohio State, she met and became engaged to her future husband, Melvin Gifford.
During World War II, Peg was employed by Moores and Ross Milk Company as a quality control technician.
She married Melvin on Feb. 24, 1945.
Through the remainder of the 1940s and 1950s, she worked as a homemaker, raising a family on the Gifford family farm in Newbury.
During the 1960s, Peg was the Geauga County Cooperative Extension Service Home Economics Agent. While in that position, she taught adult classes in cooking, sewing and other skills, and was active in the county 4-H program recruiting adult leaders, providing them support and doing judging of cooking and sewing 4-H projects.
Peg has been active in local churches wherever she has lived. She was a longtime member of Newbury United Community Church, in Newbury. She also was a member and faithfully attended the Miami Avenue Presbyterian Church, in Columbus; Chagrin Falls Methodist Church, in Chagrin Falls; Solon Community Church, in Solon; First Presbyterian Church, in Laurens, S.C.; and First Community Church, in Upper Arlington, Ohio.
Peg’s ancestral heritage was all Welsh and she was proud of her Welsh heritage. She took two trips to Wales and visited locations where her relatives and ancestors lived.
Her hobbies included vegetable and flower gardening, reading, traveling and sewing.
For the past five years Peg has lived at Holly Hill Assisted Living and Nursing Home, in Newbury, and her family is grateful for all of the love and care she received.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Robert Matthew and Idamae (nee Thomas) Matthew; and her husband, Melvin Gifford.
Peg is survived by her sister, Mary Ross; sons, Donald (Joyce) and David (Mary); and daughter, Susan (Steve) Snodgrass; grandchildren, Alice, Karen, Mark (Tina), Matthew (Ashleigh), Adam and Laura Gifford, and Jeff (Joanna Mroz) Snodgrass; and great-grandchildren, Cassidy, Mackenzie, Max, Kendall, Annie, Jack. Ellie, Jane and Mary Francis Gifford, and Alma and Annegret Mroz Snodgrass.
Family will receive friends at Burr Funeral Home, 116 South St., Chardon, on Friday, Jan. 22, from 4-7 p.m.
A Memorial Service will be held at Newbury United Community Church at 11 a.m. Jan. 23. Internment will take place at a later time.
In lieu of flowers the family requests donations in memory of Peg to Newbury United Community Church, P.O. Box 308, Newbury, OH 44065.
